Calculator
Credit utilization calculator
Credit utilization is the share of your available card credit that you are using. Type a balance and a credit limit for up to five cards and the calculator shows the percentage for each card and for all of them together. It runs in your browser and nothing you type is sent or stored.
Enter at least one card balance and credit limit to see a result. Worked example (shown when scripts are off): a $1,500 balance on a $5,000 limit and a $600 balance on a $3,000 limit are 30 percent and 20 percent on each card, and $2,100 of $8,000, or 26.25 percent, overall.
Before you decide anything
The percentage bands in this tool are commonly cited rules of thumb. They are not score guarantees, and no single figure is a cutoff. Use the number to understand your situation, not to predict a score.
How the calculator works
For each card, utilization is the balance divided by the credit limit, times 100. Overall utilization adds up the balances of the cards you entered and divides by the sum of their limits. A row counts only when both boxes are filled, a limit must be above zero, and a balance cannot be negative. The pay-down figure is the total balance minus 30 percent of the total limit, never below zero. For example, $2,700 owed against $6,000 in limits is 45 percent, and the balance would need to fall by $900 to reach 30 percent.
What the percentages mean
The calculator groups results as under 10, 10 to 29, 30 to 49, 50 to 74, 75 to 100 and over 100 percent. These groups are ours, chosen for readability. The one level people most often quote is 30 percent. The scoring company FICO says the share of credit in use matters within its amounts owed category, which it describes as about 30 percent of a FICO score, and also says the evidence does not show the score dropping once usage crosses 30 percent. Lower use is generally viewed more favorably than high use, but how a particular score reacts depends on the scoring model and the rest of your credit file.
Limits of this tool
- It does not know which scoring model a lender uses, and models treat per-card and overall use differently.
- Issuers usually report a balance to the credit bureaus once a month, often the statement balance. The figure that is reported may differ from what you owe today, and a balance you pay before the statement closes may never be reported.
- Some cards have no preset limit, and some issuers do not report a limit. Those cases are not covered here.
- It does not look at payment history, account age or any other part of a score.
- Paying down a card is only one of several things that move a score, and carrying a balance costs interest. Paying in full avoids interest regardless of what the percentage shows.
This is general information, not financial advice. If debt is hard to manage, a nonprofit credit counseling agency or another qualified adviser can look at your whole situation.
Where this comes from
The formula is the plain definition used in consumer credit education. For the scoring discussion we checked FICO's published explanation of its score categories and its commentary on what utilization ratio to aim for, which says some experts suggest staying under 30 percent while the data does not support a drop at that line. The statement-timing note is general and not tied to one source, so confirm how your issuer reports. We have not tested any scoring model ourselves.